Here we are again, week 4 of the link up and I still have no photos to show of any new free motion quilting projects of my own, for two reasons. Firstly, our computer still isn't fixed, so new blog posts with new photos just aren't possible. Secondly, FMQ is having to wait until I have finished other projects. For the moment, dressmaking rules. So here is a photo lifted from an earlier post showing one of my favourite designs.
Thank you to everyone who linked up last week: Gwyned and Hilary, who have linked up every week so far: Indigo, who included free motion work into a tiny mixed media project; Jessim, who made the sweetest woven mini quilt with an FMQ border; Kathy, who made a matching pair of quilts for twins; Kelly who made a gorgeous colourful quilt for her mum; and Sandra, who showed the fun-packed I-spy quilt she has made for her grandson. Such a great variety of projects!
Here are the very easy and slightly elastic rules:-
1. Link up with any recent post, ideally from the last week but within the last month, which features a free motion quilting project.
2. Link back to this post in your own post and/or grab the linky button for your blog's sidebar.
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3. Visit as many of the other participants as possible and say hello in the comments box.
4. The link up will remain open for four days, from midnight to midnight GMT for the long weekend, Friday to Monday.
So far bloggers from USA, England, Wales, Australia, Canada and Germany have taken part. The first participant from each new country will get a special mention the following week!
Welcome to the latest follower, Karen Smith - thank you for joining!
Here we are, already on the third week of the Free Motion Mavericks link up, with a very poor show at this end. No new projects for me to show you, for a number of reasons...
The vegetable plot is suffering from three months of neglect, my frozen shoulder is vastly improved so I have been out doing lots of weeding and getting gloriously grubby.
It is far too hot for any serious fast treadling, so FMQ can wait because every spare minute I have for sewing is being dedicated to turning out nice summer tops. My wardrobe is in need of an overhaul and I am in danger of turning into a ragbag.
The computer isn't back from computer hospital yet, so even if I had new photos it might be difficult to sort them out.
So just for fun I am reposting a photo I have shown previously, showing what you have to try not to do - just one of the memorable moments along the way while making the free motion quilted bedspread.
Many thanks to everyone who linked up last week, in particular:-
Chantal, the first to link up from Canada,
Tamara, the first from Germany,
and Dora in New Mexico, a girl after my own heart, who quilts on a treadle.
So here goes for the third link up, and the rules are easy:-
1. Link up with any recent post, ideally from the last week but within the last month, which features a free motion quilting project.
2. Link back to this post in your own post.
3. Visit as many of the other participants as possible and say hello in the comments box.
4. The link up will remain open for four days, from midnight to midnight GMT for the long weekend, Friday to Monday.
So far bloggers from USA, England, Wales, Australia, Canada and Germany have taken part. The first participant from each new country will get a special mention the following week!
Welcome to two new followers today, Quilting Nonnie and Ronda Asta - thank you for joining!
First and foremost, a very big thank you to everyone who linked up last week for the inaugural Free Motion Mavericks link up!
Sue Daurio jumped in first with an impressive collection of recent finishes. Also she was asking straightaway for a button...
I am delighted to have the button installed. Please help yourselves from the sidebar!
Afton provided us with a great laugh with the sweetest and funniest picture ever of her four year old son acting as her pacman quilt holder.
Hilary Florence was the first to link up from England - we are practically neighbours, as she lives in the next county. She has been doing daring things and creasing her cotton before she quilts it.
HoffiCoffi was the first visitor from Wales - another neighbour, as we can see Wales from our upstairs windows. She showed a gorgeous quilt that she has given to a friend. She also has the best ever solution for curry stains on clothes...
Gwyned showed an interesting FMQ motif called escargot flambe, which combines swirls and spikes, plus a wonderful drawing of a stag.
Ann showed the stunning quilt that she has been using on her bed, which incorporates blocks from a swap and lovely baptist fans FMQ.
Pam linked up from Australia. She has only recently started free motion work, has plainly caught the bug, and showed two beautiful little doll quilts.
Indigo is working on a mammoth 368 block quilt, trying out lots of different techniques, and showed letters worked in FMQ.
I was delighted at being able to visit all your blogs and enjoy your pictures - especially as I wasn't able to post any pictures myself.
Despite the fact that our computer is still in computer hospital, I have managed to sort out a couple of photos this week. These photos were taken by my son on his mobile phone:-
Finally, bound and hanging on the wall, Flooded Fields 2014, commemorating a winter that many people would rather forget. For the binding I used a muted green shot cotton, a soft mid green cross woven with light brown, which toned in well with the shades of the variegated threads used for the quilting. The shot cotton was from a little bit left over from the first batch of Oakshott cottons I ever bought - they are now doing a slightly different range of colours.
It measures approximately 13 and a half by twelve inches and fits nicely on the wall just above where I keep the 1949 Singer 15K hand machine. This is the machine I used to sew on the binding. It even has the seam guide still attached. The machine that did the quilting, the 1945 15K treadle, is just round the corner in the next room. It is too big and hefty to get in on the picture, and doesn't mind its younger smaller twin standing in for both of them.
So here goes for the second link up, and the rules are easy:-
1. Link up with any recent post, ideally from the last week but within the last month, which features a free motion quilting project.
2. Link back to this post in your own post.
3. Visit as many of the other participants as possible and say hello in the comments box.
4. The link up will remain open for four days, from midnight to midnight GMT for the long weekend, Friday to Monday.
So far bloggers from USA, England, Wales and Australia have taken part. The first participant from each new country will get a special mention the following week!
Welcome to the latest followers, Cynthia Woodham, Indigo Kennedy and Wendy Bradley - thank you for joining!
PS.
I am a complete techno duffer and have yet to work out how to set up this week's link up without last week's entries popping up again. Oh well, way past my bedtime. It's beyond me tonight. Link up anyway and I can sort it out tomorrow. Or next week.
Linking up with Kelly's blog My Quilt Infatuation for Needle and Thread Thursday
and Richard and Tanya Quilts for Link a Finish Friday
and Sarah's blog Confessions of a Fabric Addict for Whoop Whoop Friday
and Marelize's blog Stitch by Stitch for Anything Goes Monday
Leah Day's Free Motion Friday ended on 30th May 2014 - a great place for free motion quilters to enjoy a variety of projects and encourage each other. Leah is now concentrating on Facebook and a Quilt Along. Meanwhile, in blogland, there are plenty of FMQ fans who do their own thing. Free Motion Mavericks is the new Link Up for you!
Free Motion Friday was great while it lasted, and I can't imagine that there is a single FMQ fan on the planet who doesn't owe Leah a heartfelt vote of thanks for the inspiration and encouragement that she gives so willingly. Thank you again Leah!
Now, if like me, you felt a void opening up when Free Motion Fridays came to an end, you might like to join in with the Free Motion Mavericks link up. If you love free motion quilting, whether you are a beginner just taking the plunge, or you have reached the stage where you can do ostrich feathers with your eyes shut and still achieve perfect symmetry, then please link up.
Now for the embarrassing bit.
Our computer is on the blink.
Last night I was innocently scrolling down the page and the screen went black, apart from about a dozen brightly coloured Mondrian style rectangles at the bottom. This text heavy post is coming via my husband's laptop.
So no photos from me just yet, but I expect with the help of the better techno-brains in the family we will find a way round it.
I feel like a lazy hostess laying out plates of sliced bread and margarine and telling my guests they have to bring their own sandwich fillings. And drinks. And salads. And cold meats, cheese board and sherry trifle.
So here goes...
This post is going up on Thursday, the link is already live (I've done a test link), and I look forward to seeing all your lovely FMQ projects posted this week. Be sure to link up back to this post, and visit each other to leave comments...
Update Thursday 12th June - next link up starts at midnight tonight GMT!
Having assembled the bodice I now have to attach the sleeves. I have hemmed the sleeves and added the rick rack trim already - it is easier to do so at this stage rather than wait until they are sewn onto the bodice.
To absorb the fullness at the head of the sleeve I have decided to do tucks, arranged box pleat style. This is how I did the sleeves on the 1940s blouse, and it is much quicker and easier than doing gathers or a set in sleeve. Avid viewers of the Great British Sewing Bee will remember that this is the method used by Chinelo when the contestants had to draft a pattern piece and add sleeves to a sleeveless dress.
The tucks are held steady by tacking stitches. The centre of the tucks is at the top centre of the sleeve.
The top centre of the sleeve has to be matched with the top centre of the armhole. These points are marked on commercial patterns. Because this is a home made pattern there are no markings, but centre points are easy to find by just folding the sleeve and armhole opening in half.
The seams are matched together under the arm.
There is still a tiny bit of fullness in the curve of the sleeve, but not so much that it can't be eased flat. At this point the cut at the edge of the sleeve is on the bias of the fabric, so it can be flattened with a bit of persuasion.
Once the sleeve has been pinned into place it can then be tacked. I stitch about half an inch from the edge.
The curved sections towards the underarm are probably the trickiest bit to tack. This is where you can end up with annoying little folds because the bodice pieces want to pull taut and the sleeve has a bit of fullness.
Next I machine stitch the armhole seam, sewing about an eighth of an inch from the tacking stitches.
Now I can pull out the tacking stitches and work on enclosing the raw edges. None of the books I have show this process - I checked through them when I was making the little red daisies dress. This is a process I learnt thanks to doing needlework at school. Rather a long time ago.
I usually use one inch bias binding - this binding was actually a little wider, at an inch and a quarter. To reduce bulk where the binding begins and ends when sewn onto the seam allowance, I do a diagonal folded down edge at the end that is to be attached first.
Here is the binding machine stitched in place around the armhole seam. I aim to get this line of stitching just beside the first line of machining, just inside the seam allowance.
Next I trim down the excess from the seam allowance.
To reduce bulk I trim off a tiny fraction more from the bodice seam allowance. In this photo you can see how the two lines of machine stitching lie side by side.
Now the binding can be easily folded over. Hair grips are much handier for keeping it in place than pins. The grip on the right is keeping down the folded edge at the beginning of the binding where it overlaps the end of the binding. I do this in much the same way as when I overlap binding at the edge of a quilt - the only difference is that here I have cut the ends of the binding on the bias. I always put this join in the binding at the lower back part of the armhole, clear of the join of the seams under the arm.
Now the binding can be stitched down by machine.
Here is the bodice so far. Rubbish focus - late afternoon on a cloudy day - but who cares when you have two sleeves attached...
... and bound seams that can withstand the rigours of a washing machine? And the colour matches the dress, even though nobody will ever see it.
Linking up today with Kelly's blog My Quilt Infatuation for Needle and Thread Thursday
and Sarah's blog Confessions of a Fabric Addict for Whoop Whoop Friday
Taken in Lisieux a couple of years ago - only just across the Channel, but the florists in France seem to have such a different selection of flowers to ours. But wherever you are in the world, roses are roses.
It's happened, the Out of Print Fashion show at Bookbarn was on Friday, and what an event! We had our best Friday night out for years. THANK YOU BOOKBARN - Susie, Sophie, Paige, Jim, everyone!... so many people involved who all worked together to put on a fantastic unique show.
The challenge was to make an outfit using old books. Everybody came up with different ideas, and the end results needed to be seen to be believed. As soon as I have collected a few links I will do a new post showing photos of as many of the different outfits as I can. There were twelve altogether, including an immense ball gown, a crinoline petticoat, a corset bodice with skirt, a coat with changing pictures (ingenious and so gracefully modelled) and five year old Georgina as a fairy tale princess.
Here is the outfit I came up with, inspired by the Hanging Gardens of Babylon...
An organza skirt in terracotta orange and turquoise blue covered with big paper flowers and a few trailing leaves. This was the only real sewing part of the project. The gathering at the waist was done on the 1936 201K treadle using the ruffler - it worked a treat - and for the waistband I used broad black bias binding.
The bodice is made of book covers cut to shape and laced together, embellished with pictures of antique Bedouin jewellery, the whole thing secured around the waist with ties made from old black tights.
The back bodice, also made from book covers, hangs down sandwich-board style. The parrots add a bit of of an exotic flavour, just perched above the waterfall. To give the impression of water I cut out lots of blue photographs from the books, pleated them, and sewed them using the 1949 15K hand machine (with a big blunt old needle) to four thin strips cut from one of my husband's old shirts. To give the finishing touch to the water I cut the pleated strips into a fringe and curled them around a pencil.
Fans of Linda at Linda's Landscapes will remember the gorgeous gown in the photo she used for inspiration for the girl in her garrison quilt. I knew that somehow I had to do a lace-up back. Thank you Linda!
For the accessories I tried to make the best use possible of the books. Here is my first ever (and probably last) home made hat. The brim is cut from a hardback cover, the main body of the hat is made from old black cotton and a ridiculous amount of wood glue, and covered with old black tights - the elastic at the top of tights is very handy for hat bands. A couple of paper flowers to pick up the colours of the skirt on one side...
... and a parrot from the front cover of a book at the back ( complete with the author's name), with his own personal sunray background.
To complete the outfit I made a reversible fan using dust jackets - Japanese rice paddies for the blue and green side...
... and ancient Mexican carving for the terracotta side.
Here she is on the night, my in-house model hamming it up after the show in front of the book shelves...
... showing off her waterfall and parrots ...
... and the fan.
The smile says it all. She had a whale of a time strutting up the catwalk.
THANK YOU AGAIN BOOKBARN!
Another show next year??? We are raring to do it all over again!
Linking up today with Sarah's blog Confessions of a Fabric Addict for Whoop Whoop Friday...
... and Barbara's blog Cat Patches for the May NewFO Challenge.
This barmy outfit was completed over a period of eleven days during May. Here is an update on my February NewFO, the free motion quilted landscape, which I have been working on at a much more leisurely pace.
... and Connie's blog Freemotion by the River for Linky Tuesday
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